County Supervisors Interview Three Finalists for County Administrator’s Position: Whose Pick Will be Selected and When?

At 10 a.m., the morning of August 1st, the Warren County Board of Supervisors met at the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel on the county’s northside to convene a Closed/Executive Session to interview candidates to replace retiring County Administrator Ed Daley. As indicated in the meeting agenda available on the County website, the motion into Closed Session indicated a one-topic agenda:

“I move that the Board enter into a closed meeting under Section 2.2- 3711(A)(1) for the discussion, consideration, or interviews of prospective candidates for employment as the County Administrator. The subject matter is interviews for the County Administrator position.”

Might the supervisors have been pondering a lengthy, perhaps overnight, interview process when they booked a meeting room at the county northside DoubleTree by Hilton to interview finalist candidates for the county administrator’s job? Below, the full board prepares to go into closed session when this reporter and his camera would be asked to leave. Royal Examiner Photos Roger Bianchini

In the hope of meeting and identifying the County Administrator finalists, Royal Examiner was on the scene at the DoubleTree to see the motion into Closed Session, though we saw no candidates in the lobby or meeting room before or after 10 a.m.

After several unsuccessful attempts to reach board members by phone mid-afternoon, including an auto-response “Can’t speak right now” message from Chairman “Jay” Butler’s phone we decided to return to the DoubleTree to see if the closed meeting was still convened. When we arrived around 3 p.m., the supervisors were still behind closed doors in the hotel lobby Board Room.

But as had been the case at 10 a.m., there were no County Administrator candidates apparent in the lobby, nor did any exit the Board Room during a brief recess, which we found out from Chairman Butler was taken between the second and third of three scheduled interviews. Present were principals of the executive search company Colin Baenziger & Associates, which has been contracted to conduct the search and recommend finalists for the board’s consideration at a price of $32,500. It appeared to this reporter that the interviews would be conducted with candidates connected remotely on the screen at the far end of the board table shown below.

During the mid-afternoon break, Chairman Butler explained to this reporter that the initial field of nine semi-finalist candidates, seven recommended by Colin Baenziger & Associates and two added at the request of thus far unidentified supervisors, had initially been pared down to the targeted number of five finalists. However, one of those five withdrew earlier, and a second withdrew their name in the days leading up to the finalist interviews, leaving three to be interviewed on August 1st.

As the Royal Examiner tried to get names and resumés of the finalists, we were informed that legal staff had notified the County that applicant names and resumés were not public due to potential negative repercussions on applicants who are employed but seeking employment elsewhere. But hopefully, once a decision is made, details on the selected candidate’s work background will become available, as will who recommended them as a finalist for consideration.

So, stay tuned, sports fans — I mean municipal government fans — as Royal Examiner attempts to find out who recommended the selected County Administrator applicant and what employment credentials they brought to the table.

At this point on August 2nd the county administrator selection is only slated for Closed Session discussion at 5 p.m. prior to the Wednesday, August 6, Warren County Board of Supervisors regular meeting, which begins at 7 p.m. Might the supervisors add a vote on selection of a new county administrator to the August 6th open meeting agenda after their closed session discussion?

Stay tuned, we should find out shortly after 7 p.m. Wednesday, when a vote on approval of the agenda “as presented” or “as amended” is taken.